Computers, Hackers, And Phreaks :: essays research papers

The Internet is a wondrous place. Practically anything you could ever want is available on the Net. It's like a big city, it has the highly prestigious areas, and the sex-ridden slums (Mitchell). It has the upstanding citizens, and it has the criminals. On the Net, crime is more abundant than in a large city, though, mainly because of the difficulties in tracking and prosecuting offenders. Even from its beginnings, the Internet has always been a battlefield between phreaks and administrators.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Internet hasn't always been a public forum. In fact, the Internet has been around for years. The Internet is just a new fad (Larson). The Internet originally began as DARPANET, a government-created network, which was designed for defense communications. The Net structure is such that it could survive a nuclear war (Mitchell). The creation of the Net can not be blamed for the existence of hackers though, hackers are older than the Net itself, but the Net is the largest 'hacker haven' today (Spencer). The growth of the Net since its creation has been nothing less than astounding. In the 25-plus years since its creation, the Net now has over thirty million users using four million sites world wide. Estimates rate the growth of the Net anywhere from ten to fifteen percent per month (Spencer). The Internet was first released to major universities in the United States of America. Since then, the universities have offered connections to small business, service providers, and even to the individual user. Sometimes these connections cost a fortune, and sometimes they can be obtained for free (Larson). Although some of the original universities have dropped off the Net for various reasons, every major university in the United States, and now, most others in the world, have a connection to the Internet (Quittner).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although it isn't easy for an individual to get a direct connection to the Net, many private institutions are getting direct access. This is mainly due to the fact that in order to support the very high speed of the Net, a fast computer is needed and a fast connection. A fast computer can cost in the thousands of dollars, at least, and a quick connection can cost hundreds dollars or more. Individuals can still get on the Net through these private institutions. The private institution spoon-feeds the Net to the slower computers over their delayed connection lines (Jones). The Internet began very high-class, due to the fact that only super intelligent college students and professors could access it. The discussions tended to stay intellectual, with very little, if any, disturbance (Larson).